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Dark One Dagger
The Dark One's Dagger is a magical item featured on ABC's Once Upon a Time. It first appears in the eighth episode of the first season. History Some time after the Dark One's dagger has been made, the remains of Excalibur are placed in a stone in Camelot. At some unknown point, a man named Zoso becomes the Dark One. Greedy for power, he later breaks into a chamber containing the Sorcerer's hat, which is guarded by the Sorcerer's Apprentice. With the dagger in hand, Zoso waves the weapon over a box, attempting to unlock it to steal the hat, but is blasted away by a powerful enchantment. The Apprentice reveals that the Sorcerer enchanted the box so that those who have succumbed to darkness may never possess it. Beaten, Zoso retreats. Later in Zoso's life, a Duke of the Enchanted Forest gains the dagger, and uses it to control the the Dark One into committing atrocious deeds. During an Ogre War, a soldier of the Duke named Hordor goes to a village to round up all children who have recently turned fourteen, which makes it mandatory that they must join the army. He grabs a girl, Morraine, as her parents beg for mercy. As a show of intimidation, Hordor commands the Dark One to magically force the girl's parents into submission. Tired of being bound to the dagger, Zoso finds the perfect substitute to take on the Dark One's powers in a cowardly father, Rumplestiltskin, who wishes to protect his son, Baelfire, from being drafted into the Ogre War. While disguised as a beggar, he persuades Rumplestiltskin to steal the dagger from the Duke's castle. Rumpelstiltskin successfully steals the dagger and summons Zoso. When insulted by the being, he stabs the Dark One in a fit of anger, only to realize Zoso is the beggar from earlier on. As the man dies, free of his burden, Rumplestiltskin gains the powers of the Dark One as his own name appears on the dagger. In the morning, Rumpelstiltskin stalks back to his home and murders all the soldiers, including Hordor, who mocked him. Soon, Rumplestiltskin gains a fearsome reputation as he delves magical punishments to people for the smallest slight. Baelfire becomes concerned about how the curse is corrupting him, but Rumplestiltskin insists he needs magic to protect his son. He takes out the dagger to further demonstrate the only way to be rid of the curse is if someone stabbed him with it. As he explains this, their maid, Onora, comes in and accidentally sees the dagger. After she is sent away, Baelfire promises to find a way for his father to be released from his powers without dying. Rumplestiltskin agrees to give up his powers if there is another method of removing them. Later, out of paranoia, Rumplestiltskin kills Onora to keep her from delving knowledge of the dagger to outsiders, despite that she is mute, which horrifies Baelfire. With the help of the Blue Fairy, Baelfire procures a magic bean to bring himself and his father to another land that is free of magic. However, Rumplestiltskin backs out of their deal when Baelfire opens up a portal with the bean. As they both nearly fall into the portal, Rumplestiltskin clings onto the surface with his dagger while holding his grip on Baelfire. Despite his love for Baelfire, he is simply too afraid of being without his powers, and lets go of his son's hand. Baelfire vanishes into the portal as it closes. At first, Rumplestiltskin is relieved to still have magic, but quickly regrets choosing his powers over his son. Learning of the sorcerer's hat, Rumplestiltskin poisons the Apprentice and turns him into a mouse. As the ultimate end-game, he wishes to accumulate enough magic in the hat to free himself from the dagger's will but still keep his Dark One powers. Since the box is only accessible to someone who has been tempted by darkness but hasn't succumbed to it, he then tricks a girl, Anna, into the exact situation. In order to bypass the box's defenses, Rumplestiltskin takes one of Anna's tears in order to take the relic. However, the Apprentice, in mouse form, bites the Dark One's hand. He drops the dagger, which Anna picks up. Realizing he is a slave to the dagger, Anna forces him to hand over the box to her. Then, she commands Rumplestiltskin to do three things—sending her home, forbidding him from harming her or her sister and reversion of the Apprentice into human. After Rumplestiltskin sends her away, the dagger drops to the floor, which he picks up, raging at losing the box. }} }} Sometime following this, Mr. Gold gives Belle a library book call number, which leads to a parchment map that serves as a decoy location for the dagger. Once Mr. Gold leaves for New York City with Emma and Henry in search of his son, Cora, Hook and Regina formulate a plan to find the dagger so they can control the Dark One. Suspecting he only trusts one other person with the dagger's location, Regina visits an amnesiac Belle at the hospital to find a library book call number in her bag. However, the trio find the book missing at the library and a parchment with scribbles in its place. Having experience in reading these sort of maps, Hook soon deciphers the burial location of the dagger. Once he does, Cora knocks him out to keep him from taking the dagger. As she and her daughter walk out of the library to the dagger's burial spot, Cora discusses her plan to make Mr. Gold to kill David, Emma and Mary Margaret so Regina will be blameless in Henry's eyes. Following the map to the forest behind Johanna's house, Regina begins shoveling to uncover the dagger, but Cora becomes suspicious that the map is a trick by Mr. Gold. Overhearing their plans, Mary Margaret goes to find David, before they seek Mother Superior's help to get the dagger first. They then phone Emma in New York and ask her to persuade an ailing Mr. Gold, who has just been fatally poisoned by Hook, to close the dagger's location. Suspecting the weapon may be in the pawnshop, Mother Superior attempts to break a magical seal on the building, to no avail. Meanwhile, Mr. Gold finally reveals to Emma that the dagger is hidden behind the minute hand of the clock face, and she relays this to her parents. As soon as David and Mary Margaret grab the dagger, Cora and Regina materialize, using Johanna's life to intimidate them into handing it over. Mary Margaret surrenders to save her friend, who is then thrown out the clock tower by Cora and killed. In the aftermath, Cora teleports with Regina to the mayoral office, where she reassures her daughter that their main priority is to control Mr. Gold and gain Henry. Noticing Rumplestiltskin's name is slowly melting from the dagger, Cora deducts that he is succumbing to death, and if he dies, all the Dark One powers will dissipate into the air without anyone inheriting them. Upon hearing her mother's intentions of becoming the new Dark One, Regina is alarmed, thinking she is only after power, until Cora excuses her ambition by saying it's necessary so no one will stand in their way of getting Henry. Mr. Gold returns to Storybrooke, and in a bid to save himself and satisfy Mary Margaret's animosity towards Cora, he gives her an enchanted candle to kill their shared nemesis. Slipping out to the vault, Mary Margaret uses the candle to curse Cora's heart and later persuades Regina into returning it to its owner. In the pawnshop, as Cora prepares to stab Mr. Gold with the dagger, she drops it when Regina plunges the heart into her chest. For the first time in a long time, Cora feels genuine happiness with Regina, before the candle curse causes a wound to manifest. As she perishes, Mr. Gold's injury heals and his name is fully restored on the dagger. While venturing the island of Neverland in search of Henry, who has been captured by Pan and the Lost Boys, Mr. Gold lights a bonfire and pulls out the dagger; standing in position so his shadow bounces onto a large boulder. Then, he slices away at the area surrounding both feet; allowing his shadow to move freely on its own. Handing over the dagger, Mr. Gold orders his shadow to hide it in a place where he he himself won't know where to find it. Learning about Mr. Gold's prior intent to kill Henry and keep a prophecy from coming true, Neal begins to doubt his father and asks for the dagger as proof that he's changed. Mr. Gold admits his shadow hid it, but Neal thinks it's another convenient excuse to not forfeit the weapon. Upon reaching Skull Rock to rescue Henry, Neal realizes he wasn't lying, after seeing his father go through a magic barrier Pan set so only someone without a shadow can pass into. After a journey back to Storybrooke, Pan conspires to recast the Dark Curse. As Mr. Gold is rendered powerless with a magic absorbing bracelet, he makes a decision to sacrifice his own life for his loved ones. During a confrontation with Pan, Mr. Gold declares his love for both Belle and Neal, but apologizes since he can't be together with them. In the final confrontation, Mr. Gold summons his shadow to return the dagger, using it to stab Pan as well as himself with it. Nearing death, Pan melts away into Malcolm, who attempts to persuade Mr. Gold to stop so they can start over as a family. Instead, Mr. Gold twists the dagger deeper into both their wounds, causing a golden light shines from the blade, which engulfs them as they disappear out of existence. }} }} After realizing Mr. Gold escaped, Zelena tries summoning him with the dagger to no avail due to Neal's interference. Frustrated, she sends her flying monkey to fetch him. Zelena later comes across Mr. Gold in the woods watching over the corpse of Neal, who passed away after being separated from his father's body. Despite that Mr. Gold exposed Zelena's true identity to David and Emma, she still finds it beneficial to have the Dark One's brain, which is also one of the ingredients for her spell. Zelena then regains control over Mr. Gold and orders him into returning to his cell. Hoping to win Mr. Gold back to their side, especially with the newest revelation that Zelena is Regina's half-sister, Belle goes into the farmhouse cellar to coax him out. He nearly takes her hand until Zelena, watching from the shadows, startles Belle, who flees. As Belle stumbles out to notify Emma, David and Tinker Bell what happened, Mr. Gold is pushed out of the cellar by Zelena's will to deliver a message. He states that if they continue to get in Zelena's way as she takes down Regina, they will pay with their lives. At nightfall, Zelena shows up for a pre-scheduled showdown with Regina on Main Street as an enslaved Mr. Gold trails her. With Neal's death still fresh on her mind, Emma challenges her to a duel. The witch sees her as an unworthy opponent and has Mr. Gold magically fling Emma aside. Forced to do Zelena's dirty work again, Mr. Gold sways Robin Hood, under duress, into handing over Regina's heart. Following this, Zelena gives Mr. Gold a new suit, which he has no interest in wearing, but his captor reminds him that she is asking nicely and otherwise could make him comply with the dagger's power. Dolled up, he has no choice but to sit down for dinner with her. During the meal, Zelena explains the time spell she is going to enact to change her own past. She even offers to take him along so he can reunite with his son. Feigning interest, Mr. Gold admits he was wrong to have chosen Regina over her in the past. To make up for it, he seduces her, though his true aim is to grab the dagger. However, Zelena catches onto his trickery and angrily makes him return to his cage. Awaiting Mr. Gold by a remote roadside, Zelena holds the dagger as she watches him drive up in a car and proceed to open the trunk. Inside, she talks to a bound-up Hook and pushes him kiss Emma with his cursed lips so the savior will lose all her magic. Otherwise, Zelena threatens to kill Henry as retribution for his disobedience. }} Vengeance quenched, Mr. Gold returns to the pawnshop and magically obscures the dagger in a cabinet. Believing she has the real, cursed dagger, Belle is overwhelmed possessing something so powerful and once again tries to give it back to Mr. Gold. He claims to trust her completely and believes she will never use it against him. To this, Belle suggests putting it somewhere safe like the one old he had in the Enchanted Forest. Mr. Gold states that vault was for dangerous and uncontrollable magic, but the dagger is harmless by itself. After placing the dagger in a bag, he changes the topic to their upcoming wedding. With Belle's encouragement, Mr. Gold pays a visit to Neal's grave. There, he confesses the truth about keeping the real dagger in order to exact revenge for him. Now that he finished this task, Mr. Gold promises to honor Neal's sacrifice for him by returning the dagger to Belle. While Belle shows Mr. Gold a mansion she wants to use as their honeymoon spot, he freezes her and places the real dagger into her purse. After unfreezing her, she leads him into another room. Before following, Mr. Gold sees a box, which he once sought out in the past. That night, as Belle is asleep, he waves the dagger in a circular motion over the box and unlocks a hat inside. Going back on his promise to Neal, Mr. Gold once again puts the fake dagger in Belle's purse. Allying herself with Emma and Hook, a visitor named Elsa confronts Mr. Gold about her missing sister, whose pendant she found in the pawnshop. Additionally, Elsa was previously trapped inside an urn that Emma recalls he once kept in his vault in the Enchanted Forest. Mr. Gold feigns ignorance, and to prove his innocence, he asks Belle to use the dagger on him. Belle commands him to tell the truth, and though everyone else believes she has the real dagger, only he knows it is a fake. Mr. Gold, in turn, declares that he knows nothing about Elsa or her sister. Later that day, Hook confirms his suspicions about Mr. Gold's lying, and threatens to tell Belle, unless he helps Elsa track down a suspect. Revealing nothing, Mr. Gold guards himself from Hook's insinuations and calmly assists Elsa in her mission. For his upcoming date with Emma, Hook forces Mr. Gold into reattaching his missing hand. Mr. Gold warns him that the hand may return his ruthless personality, but Hook ignores this. Later, after Hook begins acting out violently, he pushes Mr. Gold to remove the hand and threatens him again with exposure. Mr. Gold coolly claims he already returned the dagger to Belle, and will only take away the hand if Hook agrees to another deal with him. The next day, Mr. Gold enchants a broom, which leads them to the Apprentice's house. Following the latter's command, Hook subdues the old man into a seat where Mr. Gold uses his dagger to unlock the hat from within the box. Desiring freedom from the dagger's will and preservation of his Dark One powers, Mr. Gold then absorbs the Apprentice into the hat. Afterwards, he blackmails Hook, with footage of the pirate at the old man's house, into keeping their deal open. To avoid being implicated, Mr. Gold erases himself from the security tape. In the pawnshop, Belle discovers a magic gauntlet, which Mr. Gold once traded to save her life. Recalling the item can locate a person's greatest weakness, she uses it and finds the real dagger hidden in a vault. Disappointed in her husband's lies, she later tracks him to the clock tower. As Mr. Gold begins crushing Hook's heart to enact the power of the sorcerer's hat, Belle compels him with the dagger to stop. After ordering Mr. Gold to drop the heart, she makes him release Emma and Mary Margaret, both of whom he previously froze. Lastly, she sternly commands him to take her as well as himself to the town line for a chat. Once there, Belle confronts Mr. Gold about his repeated lies and her epiphany that he will never give up power for her sake. Using the dagger, she tearfully banishes him across the town line and out of Storybrooke. Six weeks after this, Mr. Gold returns to Storybrooke with Cruella and Ursula's assistance. Disguised as Hook, he persuades Belle into giving him the dagger under the pretense of hiding it from Cruella, Maleficent and Ursula. On a rainy night, she arrives at a meeting spot with the dagger. Before handing it over, Belle ominously wonders if Mr. Gold could be in town right now. On his encouragement, she commands the Dark One with the dagger to face her if he is present. When nothing happens, her worries are put to rest and she forfeits the dagger to him, however, she fails to realize the command did work. Later, with the dagger's power, Mr. Gold reverts a young Pinocchio to a grown August, who he tortures for information about the Author. After discovering the page of the book that the Author is trapped in, Emma releases him with a magic key found by Henry, however, the Author flees. He is confined by Mr. Gold, who offers him safety from Emma and the others in exchange for writing a new story for him. After centuries of committing evil deeds as the Dark One, the darkness begins to poison Mr. Gold's heart, slowly killing him. He makes a deal with the Author, Isaac, to write him a new story in which he is not the Dark One, to save him from his grim fate, however, he makes Isaac rewrite everyone's stories in the process, transporting them all to an alternate reality with no memories of the original reality. After the alternate reality is undone by the new Author, Henry, Mr. Gold remains on the brink of death. Belle seeks help from the Apprentice, who pulls the darkness from Mr. Gold's heart into the hat. By doing so, this ends the Dark One's curse and and removes the Dark One's name from the dagger. However, the hat is not strong enough to contain the darkness, which breaks free, destroying the hat and attacking the Apprentice. Emma uses her light magic to repel the darkness, which proceeds to escape out the door and into town. In the hopes they can stop it, the Apprentice recounts the Sorcerer's past dealings with the darkness and the origins of the Dark One. On the street, Emma, Mary Margret, David and Hook join Regina and Robin to look for the darkness. Suddenly, Regina is ambushed by the darkness as it attempts to remove the light from her. Realizing they need to re-tether the darkness to a human soul, Emma uses the dagger to attract the darkness and bind it to herself. The darkness dissipates, with Emma also vanishing into thin air, as the dagger drops to the ground to reveal the new Dark One's inscribed name is Emma Swan. With Emma having fled Storybrooke after becoming the Dark One, Hook picks up the fallen dagger, attempting to summon her to him, but when it fails, he realizes she has gone to another realm. Using the Apprentice's wand, many of Emma's loved ones and friends travel to the Enchanted Forest, hoping to track her down. }} }} After Regina has proven she can protect the townspeople, Emma sits at the table in her new home with the dagger in front of her. She sees the manifestation of Rumplestiltskin again, despite claiming she has already accepted her darkness and no longer needs him, though he reasons that the last bit of light in her is still holding her back. Rumplestiltskin guides her to the basement, where Excalibur is sitting in the stone, and he tempts her about uniting the sword with the dagger to snuff out the light in her. }} Trivia |-|On-screen Notes= On-screen Notes *The importance of the knowing name on the dagger is a play on the original Rumpelstiltskin fairytale, where Rumplestiltskin made a deal with the miller's daughter to discover his name. *Cora refers to the dagger as a "kris dagger". A kris is a prized Indonesian weapon known for its distinctive, wavy blade. They are considered to be spiritual objects. *If the Dark One is killed without the use of the dagger, he or she will expel the powers of the Dark One into the air after death without anyone else being next in line to inherit it, therefore ending the curse. |-|Props Notes= Props Notes *The design is based on ritualistic Indonesian knives.Once Upon a Time - Behind the Magic - Page 39. London: Titan Books, October 2013 *In "Family Business", Belle is wearing a dagger-printed scarf.File:406IKnow.png *In Isaac's alternate reality, Emma is wearing a pair of dagger-shaped earrings.File:422TellMeMore.png *When Arthur is talking to David while sitting at the Round Table, a drawing of the dagger is lying on the table in front of him.File:504DefeatTheDarkness.png |-|Other Notes= Goofs *Throughout the series, the written letters of the Dark One's name keeps switching from one side of the blade to the other. Sometimes, the letters are right side up when the dagger is held in the right hand and facing the wielder with the first letter at the tip of the blade.File:108BloodyDagger.png File:215TheDagger3.jpg File:322MayBeFlawed.png File:401Dagger.png At other times, the writing is right side up when the dagger is facing the wielder and held in the left hand with the first letter next to the hilt.File:119DaggerInHand.png File:201Dagger.png File:216DaggerFading.png File:320ThisHowever.png Appearances Note: "Archive" denotes archive footage. *Hook's tattoo in "Tallahassee" shows the dagger embedded through a heart.File:206HellOfAPirate.png *The Dagger appears on the page of Samuel's book in "Out of the Past".File:OPDagger.png References de:Dolch des Dunklen it:Pugnale dell'Oscuro Signore fr:Dague du Ténébreux Category:Magic